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(born 1948). Canadian author Ruth Nichols is primarily known for her compelling juvenile fantasies involving various psychological and physical quests that lead the characters to a better understanding of good and evil. Nichols’ books often feature a heroine attempting to bring together various elements of her identity.

Nichols was born on March 4, 1948, in Toronto, Ont. She enjoyed writing as a child, and in 1962 she won the grand prize in the Shankar International Literary Contest for Children. She received a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from the University of British Columbia in 1969 and went on to earn both a master’s degree and a doctorate from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.

At age 18 Nichols wrote a draft of what became her first published children’s book, A Walk Out of the World (1969). Her adult novel Ceremony of Innocence was also published in 1969. In 1973 the Canadian Association of Children’s Librarians named The Marrow of the World (1972)—a story of a half-human, half-witch girl struggling against internal and external evils—as the best book of the year.

Nichols’ other children’s books, Song of the Pearl (1976) and The Left-Handed Spirit (1978), have been both praised and criticized for their complexity and mature nature. The author turned to writing historical novels in the 1990s, publishing The Burning of the Rose (1990) and What Dangers Deep (1992).

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